A funeral is scheduled for this week for Wendy Jo Shaffer, a Twin Cities native who was among the dozens who died late last month when a commercial airliner collided with a military helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.
Shaffer, 35, was living in Charlotte, N.C., with her husband and two sons, and working for the Twin Cities-based agribusiness giant Cargill at the time of the crash on Jan. 30 involving an American Airlines jet out of Wichita, Kan., and an Army helicopter on a training exercise near Washington‘s Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Shaffer was among the 64 people aboard the airliner who died along with three helicopter crew members.
“Wendy radiated kindness and joy — sparkles and smiles seemed to follow her everywhere she went,” her online obituary read. “She was driven, but effortless, ambitious yet full of ease. Her absence leaves a void that can never be filled.”
Shaffer was born Wendy Jo Wigstrom and raised in Mahtomedi, where she was a three-sport athlete for the hometown Zephyrs and a straight-A student, according to her obituary.
“Wendy was a shining star from the moment she came into this world,” the obituary continued. “She was every parent’s dream: kind, hardworking, endlessly curious and a friend you wanted your own children to have.”
A 2007 graduate of Mahtomedi High School, Shaffer earned a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 2012, the obituary noted, adding that she worked for 12 years at Cargill, most recently as senior director of business process management food manufacturing and supply chain.
Shaffer is survived by husband Nathan; sons Shields, 3, and Bennett, 1; parents Mike and Mary Wigstrom; sister Emily, and brothers Michael and Patrick.
